christmas market

last weekend i went to Christmas market at the museum of the Romanian Peasant ( i know they could come up with a better name) there were people there from all over Romania with their traditional handicrafts and stuff from their ethnic groups. my little avaricious heart beat a steady tattoo. there were even people there with these gigantor copper stills - you know to make that plum brandy that'll put hair on your chest. there was some music and dance and food. crazy good stuff. here some pics. my dorkiness is much in evidence as i had to take pics with people. afterwards we went to enjoy some nice hot drinks.

i wonder . . .

if cats get embarrassed.

Ziggy - she of the stardust - is not a very successful cat. i think it may be because her tail is too long. Maybe she will grow into it.

the thing is she's always trying to leap on things and be all agile and graceful. sadly, graceful she is not. she just attempted a leap from the counter to the top of the fridge, only the went splat against the side of the fridge. it was like one of those roadrunner cartoons and the coyote just hits the side of the cliff and slides off. i laughed. she didnt try it again right then.

she does this alot. this usually leads to the breaking of things. but its still funny. maybe she doesnt appreciate me laughing at her. she's still crazy cute though

so so wrong

while we were on the fieldtrip . ..

the mall is gaily decorated for the xmas season. and lo and behold he comes santa walking around the food court. we see him take a picture with someone and thought "awesome, he can take one with me too!!"

when he comes near us, one of the students called him over. Santa shakes his head no and turns back the way he came.

i was shocked. shocked to be dissed by santa. what kind of goodwill is this? i tried to call the santa's union but the number is disconnected.

it was appalling. especially since it was me who wanted to take a pic with him. we never believed in santa growing sup, so i never got to take a picture with santa. looks like it aint gonna happen soon.

field trip

this is my job. dont think anyone really cares but took the year 11's on a field trip today. it was pretty good. sometimes am amazed at how nice they can actually be. they were considerate, offering to pay for their own public transport fares when they thought i was paying for it. from my pocket

we've been studying towns and one of the purposes of the trip was to contrast different areas of the city. through data collection (am not gonna bore you with the details) and observation, explain all manner of things. one of the interesting things is how sheltered they are. they are pretty wealthy and really have no idea how the majority of people live and were a little shocked by what they saw in the part of town away from the embassies, gov't buildings, and wealthy houses.

also included was a trip to the mall to study blah blah blah . . . they seemed to enjoy that part.

25 years old

yep . . . not me but thriller. so here i commemorate one of the most important albums in my life. Michael jackson touched me as a child (get your mind out of the gutter) and therefore has a special place in my heart - or at least this album does.

"beat it" were the first words of english i learned. cant even tell you how i wore them out. singing REPEATEDLY. here's a little something on how he has touched people the world over. obviously an inspiration to many . I find the pelvic thrusts in this one particularly scary.


oh and lets not forget this one from the Philippines. if you gotta go to jail this seems like the one to go to. oh and i love how our female lead has a serious case of male patterned baldness.

a very guilty pleasure

its a sad sad thing. as always, i am on the lookout for a new procrastinating tool. i have just recently discovered project runway. gasp! it is so bad that its good. unfortunately for me, i have to get it all from my umbilical cord, the internet. and thank goodness for the invention of youtube. what makes it even better is that there are seasons - yes multiples- for me to use in my efforts to waste my life and time. perrrrrfect-a!

and to add the cherry- apparently there is project runway Canada. hosted by iman. her delivery is a bit weird but hey, how could i not love the spouse of D.bowie.

all i can say is my life is worth living and eventually, those chapters will be read and papers written.

say it aint so

is there nothing sacred left? am i to have no illusions? i was flabbergasted, weirded out, and disillusioned at this. bill nye is the science guy! he is not supposed to be bill nye, the fraudulent marriage, crazy ex-wife/girlfriend poisioning the roses (the new bunny boiling?) and possibly him, needing a restraining order guy.

what is next? hafta say that thought bill nye was crazy awesome back in the day.

. . . been somewhere too long when . . .

today i went to ikea (like my favorite place on earth) on my way back had a not very nice accident. tripped, fell into a puddle on my brand new picture frame, broke it, felt like i broke my knee. its been raining and the temps have been hovering around freezing. a nice lady came along and helped me up. so i continued my walk home with my freezing wet self.

so i decided i needed some comfort warming up food. coupled with having not gone to the grocery store today cause was all being studious and stuff, my choices were a bit limited. so i decided on garlic soup. YAY!!!! i had some tortellini in the freezer, garlic, veggie broth. so am on my way. but alas, no peppers, and coriander leaves. what's a girl to do. well. . .

today i realized that i had been in romania too long. not only did i have cabbage in my fridge but i realized that maybe it can go with anything. so now i have garlic cabbage soup.

pofta buna (bon appetite in romanian.)

one down . . .

just spent my entire freaking day at school. tonite we had a parents evening. most of the parents are very nice and as always you see the parents of the kids you dont need to. parents of the spawns of satan stay home.

i once had one woman tell me that her husband didnt want to come because he knew all the bad stuff he was gonna hear about their kid.

but i had set my watch this morning and dont you know i did it wrong. i thought it was an hour earlier so i stayed an extra half hour talking to people. then i thought that this seemed very long and i went and asked someone the time. most of the other teachers had already gone.

geez

language profilin'

okay not for real but sorta kinda. i ride public transport here and as far as i can tell, its pretty good. except for the constant changing of routes due to construction. but hey, this will all be worth it.

i also get stopped by the controllers alot. these european countries like to have public transport work on something like the honor system. for the most part to get on and you have to validate a ticket. or you could not. the conductor has nothing to do with it.

every so often someone comes on the bus/tram and randomly checks whether people have tickets. but its really not so random (as it feels to me) these dudes are always picking on me. they get on the bus all secretive like - you know wearing plain clothes like this is some bond film.

this weekend, i was riding the tram on my way to meet a friend. phone rings, i start speaking. immediately i get tap, shown the official ID, and i have to dig around my bag ( very scary place) then work the stupid monthly card out of my wallet. after all that work, he doesnt even check to see if its valid. after me, i dont see him asking to see other peoples.

i got caught once last year and didnt have my card. the dude showed me some papers. talked at me some and then asked for money. am pretty sure, and my romanian friends said it was likely, that he just pocketed the money. see i think the english = pay dirt.